Is your Raspberry Pi phone at Microsoft?

A new update to the Raspberry Pi operating system, formerly known as Raspbian, has put fans of open source on their toes. Why? The new operating system is ping Microsoft servers each time the user updates their applications or the operating system themselves.

The hubbub is a bit of a storm in a teapot, because the new operating system simply pings the repositories containing Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code editor, a streamlined IDE that has become a formidable tool in the programmer’s arsenal and, arguably, a solid educational tool.

That said, open source fanatics see companies like Microsoft as anathema (or at least an obstacle) to their work. The same fanatics fought, successfully, for the open-source Raspberry Pi Foundation to have its graphics driver for its GPU, Broadcom VideoCore chip.

What Microsoft could do with this ping is limited but Reddit users are concerned that they will receive targeted advertisements through Bing that will focus on Raspberry Pi users.

“People haven’t had a chance to know about the new repository until it’s already added to their sources, with a Microsoft GPG key. Not very transparent to say the least. And in my opinion, not how things should be done in the open-source world, ”wrote one Reddit user. Fortysix_n_2.

The Raspberry Pi team sees this move as an effort to make coding easier for new users to the platform.

“Thanks everyone, for your feedback this won’t change as it makes the first experience easier for people who want to use tools like VSCode,” wrote Gordon Hollingworth, Raspberry Pi Software Engineering Director.

The repositories in question are the databases that the operating system uses to maintain software versions and updates available. Most of the repositories are open source and reside in places like Github while the Visual Studio Code repository resides on Microsoft’s servers. Users who want their devices not to be tainted with company code do not immediately have the option of deactivating this repository when installing the Raspberry Pi operating system.

“The more I think about it, the more the element of trust is brought out, ”Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton told Gizmodo. “It feels like this is a minority of people who have an unrealistic view of how many people they trust when they install all piece of software. It’s not just proprietary software –Remember how we all trusted OpenSSL because it’s free and widely used and can’t be full of terrible security bugs? It is ludicrous to suggest that we somehow betray people by choosing to trust Microsoft. “

But some people interpret this decision as betrayal and jump accordingly.

“I’m sorry Raspbian but I have to say goodbye to you. No strong emotions. I wish you all the best and rot in hell, ”wrote a Reddit user called Dr0zD.